Trump Trying To Derail Georgia Investigation As D.A. Considers Georgia RICO Charge

The Daily Beast reports, Trump Tries to Derail Georgia Grand Jury Investigation:

Clearly feeling the heat from yet another potential pending criminal indictment—this time, in Georgia—former President Donald Trump on Monday asked a judge to totally upend an Atlanta investigation that seeks to hold him accountable for trying to overturn state election results there in 2020.

Trump’s last-minute scramble hinges on the idea that he can’t get a fair trial now that so many Americans—potential jurors—have heard from Emily Kohrs, the overly excited grand jury foreperson who spoke to news outlets and dropped hints about oncoming indictments.

Kohrs’ comments “illuminate the lack of proper instruction and supervision over the grand jury relating to clear evidentiary matters which violates the notions of fundamental fairness and due process,” wrote Trump’s three lawyers, Drew Findling, Marissa Goldberg, and Jennifer Little.

More loser arguments from Trump attorneys. The judge overseeing the special grand jury in Georgia has already explained, Judge overseeing Trump Georgia grand jury speaks after foreperson’s controversial interviews:

After the foreperson of the Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump and a push to overturn the 2020 election spoke out in several headline-making interviews, the judge overseeing the case told ABC News on Monday that jurors “can talk about the final report.”

McBurney said in an interview that after the grand jury submitted its report in January, he held a “farewell session,” at the request of the district attorney, in which he “reminded them of their oath, which is a statutory obligation that they not discuss with anyone outside their group their deliberations — that’s the one word that’s in the oath.”

McBurney emphasized that “it’s important for people to understand that witness testimony is not deliberations.”

“I explained you don’t talk about what the group discussed about the witnesses’ testimony, but you can talk about witness testimony,” he said. “You could talk about things that the assistant district attorneys told you. … And then finally, you can talk about the final report because that is the product of your deliberations, but it’s not your deliberations.”

“This grand jury’s sole role was to prepare a report that was merely a set of recommendations for the district attorney — full stop. Nothing more,” McBurney said. “And so folks should think long and hard about what impact, at all, this special purpose grand jury’s work would have should there be an indictment down the road.”

“This grand jury could not and did not bring charges against anyone,” he reiterated.

The judge said people may be “more familiar with federal grand jurors and a more extensive oath of secrecy than is the case in Georgia.”

“It’s just important not to apply the wrong standard to grand jurors in this jurisdiction,” he said. “Their oath requires them to keep secret their deliberations, and it is a different oath than what federal grand jurors take.”

The focus on this one juror Emily Kohrs is also misguided. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution interviewed five members of the Special Grand Jury investigation into election interference in Georgia’s 2020 elections. They however chose to remain anonymous. Georgia Special Grand Jury: ‘A Lot’s Gonna Come Out Sooner Or Later … And It’s Gonna Be Massive’.

Trump’s attempt follows the partial release in February of a special grand jury report, in which a panel of Georgians recommended that a local district attorney seek criminal charges against several people involved in the GOP effort to upend democratic principles.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis put together the special purpose grand jury as an initial step before presenting an actual criminal case before a grand jury that can indict Trump or anyone else involved in that scheme.

But in a Monday court filing, Trump’s legal defense team asked a judge to intervene by simply rejecting the report outright, preventing any other law enforcement effort from also using the evidence these special grand jurors gathered. That would include testimony from politicians and political operatives about how Trump sought to overturn the state election results and intimidate the state’s top elections official into going along with the plan.

In Monday’s legal memo, Trump’s team also asked that Willis “be disqualified from any further involvement in this matter.” For months, the former president has been accusing Willis, who is Black, of being a “racist” who is simply trying to take him down for political reasons.

An easy call for the judge: “DENIED.” The Special Grand Jury process is expressly provided for by Georgia statute.

In their Monday memo, Trump’s lawyers seized on the fact that this legal process is so weird that the fruits of this labor should be tossed out entirely. They focused on the way the special purpose grand jury appears to be a civil exercise that was suddenly turned into a criminal matter by the judge supervising the panel, Judge Robert C.I. McBurney.

For example, they questioned the way the judge was able to force witnesses like Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to testify by declaring this panel a criminal grand jury—even though it did not have the power to indict, the way criminal grand juries do.

“The statutes governing the special purpose grand jury… are so standardles that they have invited arbitrary, amorphous enforcement by the [DA] and the supervising judge,” Trump’s lawyers wrote. “This double bind cannot stand, as the distinction between criminal and civil has pertinent implications on the permissible testimony and evidence.”

Trump’s lawyers are also seeking to remove that judge from the case.

Meanwhile, CNN reports, Georgia prosecutors considering racketeering and conspiracy charges in probe of effort to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss, source says:

Atlanta-area prosecutors are considering bringing racketeering and conspiracy charges in connection with Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

Investigators have a large volume of substantial evidence related to a possible conspiracy from inside and outside the state, including recordings of phone calls, emails, text messages, documents, and testimony before a special grand jury.

Their work, the source said, underscores the belief that the push to help Trump was not just a grassroots effort that originated inside the state.

The special grand jury met for roughly seven months in Atlanta and heard testimony from 75 witnesses, including some of Trump’s closest advisers from his final weeks in the White House. It recommended issuing multiple indictments in their final report, according to the jury foreperson who spoke out in a media blitz.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis could make decisions on charges this spring, the source said. Willis will bring her charging recommendations to the regularly seated grand juries, who each serve two-month terms. Two regular Fulton County grand juries were seated in early March, and the next batch of two are scheduled to be sworn-in early May.

* * *

Willis kicked off her investigation in early 2021, soon after the infamous January phone call became public in which Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes necessary for Trump to win Georgia’s electoral votes.

The Fulton County probe expanded beyond the Trump phone calls to include false claims of election fraud to state lawmakers, the fake elector scheme, efforts by unauthorized individuals to access voting machines in one Georgia county and threats and harassment against election workers.

Willis previously said their far-reaching investigation included potential “solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local governmental bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the election’s administration.”

Willis’ office declined to comment for this story.

Willis: ‘I’m a fan of RICO’

Racketeering charges, sometimes used in gang-related activity, allow prosecutors to bring charges against multiple defendants. Willis could use the law to try to make the case that Trump and his allies were part of a criminal enterprise in their various efforts to pressure state officials, put forth fake electors and otherwise try to influence the election. [That there are!]

“The reason that I am a fan of RICO is, I think jurors are very, very intelligent,” Willis said at a news conference about a broad gang-related indictment over the summer of 2022. “They want to know what happened. They want to make an accurate decision about someone’s life. And so RICO is a tool that allows a prosecutor’s office and law enforcement to tell the whole story.”

John Floyd, a lawyer with deep expertise in racketeering cases, is assisting Fulton County on multiple cases, including Willis gang indictment against the rapper Young Thug, where she is currently using the RICO Act and introducing song lyrics as evidence.

[A] Fulton County judge approved the district attorney’s request to document testimony by all 75 witnesses who appeared before the special grand jury, so the full record of transcripts could become public record [what Trump really fears], according to a source familiar with the investigation. Although, timing details of when this treasure trove of information could be released is still unclear.

C’mon, Fani, indict Trump’s GQP as a “criminal enterprise” and charge the whole damn conspiracy under RICO. Take down his entire criminal enterprise.

And just where is Special Counsel Jack Smith and the DOJ with these charges? Why are they leaving this to a brave Fulton County DA to do their damn job for them?